Former Arkansas governor and 2016 Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee said Friday he supports reality TV family the Duggars amid allegations that their oldest child molested underage girls as a teenager.
"Good people make mistakes and do regrettable and even disgusting things," Huckabee said in a statement about the Duggars, the stars of the TLC show "19 Kids and Counting," which follows their lives as a large, conservative, evangelical Christian family.
"No one needs to defend Josh's actions as a teenager, but the fact that he confessed his sins to those he harmed, sought help, and has gone forward to live a responsible and circumspect life as an adult is testament to his family's authenticity and humility," Huckabee said.
Josh Duggar, 27, issued an apology on Thursday and quit his job after In Touch Weekly magazine published a police report that claimed he had fondled multiple girls.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/mike-huckabee-voices-support-honest-open-duggars-n363366Yet some Americans recognized their own values in the fundamentalist Christian family, as well as the influence of one man: Bill Gothard, founder of the Institute in Basic Life Principles.
Gothard once filled convention centers and earned endorsements from prominent politicians, and some of his followers were living out his values on national television.
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But today, the IBLP is losing income, and Gothard, 87, has been forced out over allegations that he abused young women working at its headquarters. And the Duggars’ shows have been canceled: “19 Kids and Counting” in 2015 amid revelations that their eldest son molested four of his sisters as a young teen and “Counting On” last year ahead of his child pornography trial and eventual conviction.
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Gothard had prominent supporters. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is quoted on the IBLP website calling the Basic Seminar “some of the best programs available for instilling character into the lives of people.” GOP megadonor Jim Leininger sat on the IBLP advisory board and then-Texas Rep. Sam Johnson on the Board of Directors until 2012.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ministry-nourished-duggar-familys-faith-falls-grace-rcna14024Wayne DuMond and Maurice Clemmons
Here was a man convicted of rape and allegedly involved in murder and another sexual assault. In 1996, then-Gov. Huckabee decided to commute his sentence. Maybe he was reacting to a Republican effort to cast DuMond as unfairly treated by Clinton, a relative of DuMond’s victim, and Tucker, both of whom declined to commute the castrated rapist’s sentence. Maybe he was fooled by DuMond’s purported embrace of Christ. There was backlash from the rape victim, and Huckabee dropped the request for commutation, but still he lobbied the parole board to release him. DuMond was released in 1999, moved to Missouri, and within the year raped and killed at least one woman and maybe two. He died in prison.
Later, as a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, he said he’d fought DuMond’s parole, despite the evidence — in writing — that he supported it.
Another Huckabee commutation gone wrong: Maurice Clemmons. Clemmons, sentenced to 108 years in prison for eight felonies he committed as a teenager, also played the Christian card, and though a prosecutor said Clemmons, who’d exhibited violent behavior, was extremely likely to commit more crimes, Huckabee commuted Clemmons sentence in 2000 and he was freed. He went on to rob and steal, but did not do time because the charges weren’t brought in a timely manner. He left Arkansas for Oregon in 2004, where he was arrested on child sex abuse charges. He killed four police officers as they sat in a coffee shop a week after he was allowed to make bond.
https://arktimes.com/news/cover-stories/2015/06/04/the-two-faces-of-mike-huckabee
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